Bash not removing all .tar.bz2 files after extracting

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

In the bash below each .tar.bz2 (usually 2) are extracted and then the original .tar.bz2 is removed. However, only one (presumably the first extracted) is being removed, however both are extracted. I am not sure why this is? Thank you :).

tar.bz2 folders in /home/cmccabe/Desktop/NGS/API

R_2017_02_17_13_02_53_user_S5-00580-30-Medexome.tar.bz2
R_2017_02_17_15_41_37_user_S5-00580-31-Medexome.tar.bz2

# untar and remove .tar.bz2 in API
for i in /home/cmccabe/Desktop/NGS/API/*.tar.bz2; do 
    tar -xvjf "$i" -C /home/cmccabe/Desktop/NGS/API
done
rm $i

currently in directory after code is executed:

R_2017_02_17_13_02_53_user_S5-00580-30-Medexome.tar.bz2
R_2017_02_17_13_02_53_user_S5-00580-30-Medexome
R_2017_02_17_15_41_37_user_S5-00580-31-Medexome

desired in directory after code is executed

R_2017_02_17_13_02_53_user_S5-00580-30-Medexome
R_2017_02_17_15_41_37_user_S5-00580-31-Medexome
2

As the "rm $i" is outside the loop, it's only executed once.

1 Like
3

Thank you, I thought that it needed to be outside the loop to ensure both the folders were extracted then removed. More to learn :).

4

That's what a loop does. The code inside it is executed several times. The code outside it is not.